Written by Allurabella Chandler and Samantha Reed
The love within this big community comes straight from the heart, and this could be clearly seen with the large smiles on the elementary students’ faces.
On January 28, 2026, Riverside Poly High School invited special education students from all around the district, grades 7th through 12th, to participate in the Bear Bowl. This year’s bear bowl brought out three of our amazing athletic teams at Poly, including cheer, football, and flag football, to play with the students. The event included schools such as Mathew Gage Middle School, Martin Luther King High School, Central Middle School, and many more. All of the students were brought together a great community with even greater values.
Every period, different teachers on campus would bring out their students to watch the bear bowl activities. These activities included playing games with their classmates, as well as playing games with the volunteering students of Poly. The biggest event that all of the schools attended for was the touchdowns against the bears football and flag football teams that the special education students got to score. Each school would get pulled to either side of the field individually and get an opportunity to score one touchdown per student, which brought joy to everyone playing. Sophomore Zoe Soriano, from the stands, mentioned that she wished she was on the field because it looked “so exciting, and the games seemed fun”.
Many of the other games included hopscotch, giant jenga, cornhole, catch, giant connect four, and the most popular, bubbles and bubble machines. The students would go around, sharing bubbles with the other schools whilst making friends for the future. Many schools joined together to play different games like soccer and duck duck goose, which got a lot of players. These interactions between students from different areas brought a sense of community and love to the environment, and provided a very light-hearted atmosphere.
Along with the athletic teams, Poly’s band also attended, playing their instruments for every touch down, and leading the cheer squad to cheer for them all. Many girls from different schools joined the cheerleaders, sharing pom poms to cheer for all of the students that were making their touchdowns. Sophomore Charolotte Zuniga expressed her delight, saying this year’s Bear Bowl was “the most successful one” she has ever seen. The 2026 Bear Bowl was complimented by staff from multiple different schools, some even mentioning that it was more organized than previous years.
Whilst this year’s Bear Bowl was a success on all levels, the Poly bears know that there will be even greater ones in the future. The environment was full of excitement between all of the peers from around the district, including the spectators from the stands that cheered along. The Bear Bowl is one of the best traditions in all of Poly’s history, and will continue to bring joy to the faces of all special education students all around RUSD.